John Mayer

When you hear certain albums from some of country music’s mainstream performers, it’s patently clear to large portions of the audience that these albums aren’t pop country, they’re just pop, period. But in the pop world when artist dabble in country influences, they tend to be more honest about how the end result is still pop.

As we continue to ponder what country radio might look like after the impending implosion of iHeartMedia and corporate radio as we know it, some very interesting developments emerged on the country radio charts this week.

And now for something entirely unexpected, but in a strange and sad way somewhat plausible and curiously intuitive, John Mayer and his label Sony have made a full on play to court country radio with his song “In The Blood” from his recently-released record, ‘The Search For Everything.’

Luke Bryan has called Waylon Jennings’ widow Jessi Colter to apologize after he made comments characterizing Outlaw country artists as cocaine addicts “laying in the gutter, strung out on drugs.” Waylon’s son Shooter Jennings has also commented on the situation, saying, “It’s all flush in my book.”

Sam Hunt is a Sturgill Simpson fan now, so says Sam Hunt in a tweet he fired off on Wednesday (5-13). Apparently the rising “country” music superstar was vacationing at Weiss Lake in northeastern Alabama this week, and Sturgill Simpson was a significant part of his soundtrack. “Sun burnt, dehydrated, ready for summer, and a Sturgill Simpson fan. Successful lake trip…”

The Sturgill Simpson love continues to pour in from different sectors of the music world, and now extends to songwriter and guitarist John Mayer, who is apparently “jealous” of the Kentucky-born country music performer. One of his biggest fans in mainstream country has been Keith Urban, and in a recent interview, when asked about Sturgill, Urban said “He’s the best.”

Aside from all the bad music, disappointing award winners, and ridiculous stage antics, the 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards may go down as one of the gremlin-riddled presentations in the modern award show era. An inordinate amount of technical problems plagued the night, along with other funny mishaps. Here are some of the major ones.